Results 301-320 of 6,340 for speaker:James Lawless

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for his continuing interest in the Cavan project as well as others. More generally, on the Department's capital ceiling over the last period there is a dedicated capital envelope, which the Deputy referred to, that amounted to €300 million for the further education and training sector, FET. Available funding has increased again from a low base of €6...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I absolutely know it will be put to very good use. It is a fantastic and very exciting project and it is great to hear the history of that building, and indeed of the project and further education in the Cavan-Monaghan area. I thank the Deputy for the invitation to visit. I will certainly put that in my diary and will get there in due course. I would like to see it for myself. You cannot...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I agree with the Deputy and I thank him for those points on access to the system for those who maybe would not have had that given they were coming from backgrounds where traditionally education or higher education was not a feature. The further education sector has been so progressive and has led so much in making education accessible to so many more families in a community setting and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I mentioned some of the places we have provided and we intend to provide further places in these areas. There are also agreements regarding healthcare provision with Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast resulting in a further 389 places over the last two years. I visited Queen's University Belfast over the Easter break and met the president, Ian Greer. I also met some of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank Deputy Connolly for his support in my visit to Galway last week. He is a great advocate for the college and works closely with the team. I believe he is a former student. That was a very good engagement. I agree with both Deputies on the real need to examine all options and all levers at our disposal to increase the number of disability workers. These include Springboard. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am committed to increasing the supports available to students and to addressing the costs of education for students and their families progressively over this year and the coming years for as long as I am privileged to serve in this office. It is important to say that all proposals made regarding education expenditure, including student grants,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: There were a couple of options raised and I will try to come back to the Deputy on each of them. Career guidance and counselling is something I tend to very much support and I am keen to increase the provision of it. As we know, it is extremely difficult for students, typically at a young age, to make choices that may have implications for their entire life journey after that. There is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I have listened to what the Deputy has said and I have taken note. He might want to follow up with me on that case as well. The first thing I would say, before I and my Department get involved, is that the student should consider appealing if they have not done so already. Indeed, I would advise any student who feels they have been wrongly denied a grant, or not had their correct level of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: On the disability framework and the challenge posed, this Government wants to support people with disabilities in the fullest possible way to allow them to live the most meaningful and impactful lives as possible, and with as much support from the State as possible. This fundamental goal is writ large in the programme for Government and the entire Government is committed to delivering on it....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 11 and 33 together. As the House will be aware, the main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the student grant scheme. Under the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: Yes.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: We are probably veering into questions for the Minister for housing rather than me. I am not aware of the seven-storey buildings the Deputy talks about. There are already 1,891 purpose-built student accommodation beds on campus in the University of Galway. The latest figures tell us the university accommodation is oversubscribed, however, as it has received more applications per bed than...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: It is not unusual for student accommodation to be used for other purposes during the summer months. Most of the higher education institutions do that themselves. It is part of the challenge of finding a solution. I want to see the maximum available beds for student accommodation based on a formula that works, first and foremost, for students. Many of the higher education institutions look...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. I intend for the funding to support the entire sector. The Deputy mentioned some figures. I would also be a bit concerned by the current level of our research and development spending as a percentage of GDP. We need to increase that. The private sector is spending a lot, so public sector spending needs to increase. That will be reflected in what I am hoping to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I appreciate the Deputy raising this important issue, as the mental health and well-being of our third level students is a matter of deep concern and ongoing priority for this Government. The Government and my Department remain committed to enhancing mental health supports across the sector. My Department has allocated a total of €32 million to support higher education institutions...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: Some examples of the types of projects being supported through that funding include the national student counselling database implementation project. This facilitates the identification of trends in the mental health needs of students attending student counselling services. It measures and monitors what trends are coming through from access to counselling services and identifies areas for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mental Health Services (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: If we consider some of the ratios, one counsellor for every 1,000 students was the suggestion from the International Accreditation of Counseling Services, IACS, to which the Deputy referred. There are different views about that report as to whether that is the optimal way to measure ability and whether that is the right metric but I certainly note what the Deputy is saying. The national...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Galway last week. I met the chair, the president and the students' union and we had a good discussion on this and many other matters. I admired the fine quadrangle and had the opportunity to inspect some of the research projects around the campus as well. It was a really worthwhile visit to see the really good work being done there. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: -----with increasing thresholds. We will come back to that later.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I am aware of the issue which has been raised with me by the student unions and I have come across this in my review of the different schemes. It is fair to ask and test this to see what is appropriate. The Deputy mentioned that one of the families she had been in contact with had stated the difficulty in assessing and establishing that independence. Documentation accepted by SUSI...